The James Madison Legacy Project

The James Madison Legacy Project is a three-year nationwide initiative of the Center for Civic Education that aims to (1) increase the number of highly effective teachers of high-need students through the professional development of 2,025 teachers, (2) increase the achievement of at least 202,500 students in attaining state standards in civics and government, (3) serve the self-identified professional development needs of a minimum of more than 500 participating schools with significant concentrations of high-need students throughout the United States, and (4) evaluate the relative effectiveness of the Center’s research-validated traditional We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution professional development model enhanced with online resources and a new blended-learning variation of the traditional model that also uses online resources.

The project focuses on identifying cost-effective means of providing widely available professional development programs useful in enhancing the knowledge and skills required of teachers to promote high-need and other students’ attainment of state standards in civics and government.

The James Madison Legacy Project is made possible by a generous grant from the U.S. Department of Education through the Supporting Effective Educator Development program.

You can stay informed about the James Madison Legacy Project by subscribing to the Center for Civic Education’s newsletter.

To find out about project activities and professional development opportunities in your state, click the map.

James Madison Legacy Project Online Platform

The Center has developed an online professional development platform for participants in the James Madison Legacy Project. On the platform, teachers, mentors, and coordinators can access professional learning communities and use discussion forums to exchange ideas and experiences.

James Madison Legacy Project Online Course

The Center is currently developing an online professional development course for teachers of civics and government. The course features videos of scholars providing in-depth explanations of the ideas contained in each unit of the We the People: The Citizen & the Constitution curriculum. These videos are accompanied by interactive online exercises and forums. The course is currently not open to the public during the initial development phase of the project. Registered users can access the videos through theonline platform.

American Governance

This collection of articles from American Governance contains twenty-five entries that were designed exclusively for teachers participating in the James Madison Legacy Project administered by the Center for Civic Education. The entries in this package provide an in-depth analysis of key concepts associated with each unit of We the People: The Citizen & the Constitution (Level 3). The entries include concepts associated with each unit. Each article offers a bibliography and cross-references to guide the reader to related subjects. The collection appears here by kind permission of Cengage Learning.

Elementary and Middle School Programs

High School Programs

MENTOR Program

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